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Reviewed by: Ashley Poulin, Elementary School Librarian Title: The Fifth Quarter Author: Mike Dawson Publisher: First Second
Year: 2021 Series: Fifth Quarter (1) Good for Grades: 3-6 Genre/Type of Book: Graphic Novel
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: None Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I chose this book because it had decent reviews, featured a girl playing sports, and is a longer graphic novel.
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
Lori is determined to play before the fifth quarter - Can she do it? |
Review:
The Fifth Quarter is about Lori, a fourth grader who LOVES being on the basketball team, despite not being the best player. The title comes from the fact that she only plays during the “fifth quarter,” which is something I had never heard of before. It was explained in the book as an additional quarter added on to the game that is played and refereed like a real game, but doesn’t impact the outcome of the game and when all the players who got little to no playing time get to play. I’m not involved in youth sports, so I have no idea if this is a common practice now, but I thought it was a neat idea.
The primary themes in the book are grit and friendship. Despite not being a natural, Lori LOVES to play basketball and does everything possible to improve. She practices at recess, joins every camp imaginable, goes to every practice despite almost never playing - she is determined to get there! Her playing does improve throughout the book, but not in an unrealistic way. I appreciated it not being a sudden transformation from benchwarmer to superstar, as her athletic growth felt authentic and natural.
The friendship themes were a little clunkier. Lori has a group of four other close friends, including another fifth quarter basketball teammate. They never seem to fully gel as a friend group, and Lori is often snarky to them without explanation. There is nothing in the narrative that explains why she does this. There is another source of friction when Lori’s mother runs for city council against another friend’s father, but again, it’s never fully fleshed out. Lori doesn’t come across as a particularly likable character, and neither do her friends.
Overall, this is a perfect fine graphic novel, but is nothing special. I do appreciate a sports story that centers around a girl character, as that can be hard to find and is something that gets asked for a fair amount. Other than that, I wasn’t wowed by this book, but it wasn’t problematic in any way either. I’m sure it will circulate, as it’s got that appealing graphic novel aesthetic, along with the sports theme.
Number of party hats:
For more information about this book, see the Publishers Website
For resources to use with this book, see TeachingBooks